The Song of the Sea (Biblical Hebrew: שִׁירַת הַיָּם, romanized: širaṯ hayyām), also known as Az Yashir Moshe (אָז יָשִׁיר מֹשֶׁה "then Moses will sing") and Mi Chamocha (מִי־כָמֹכָה "Who is like You?"), is a poem that appears in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Exodus 15:1–18. Its first two verses are repeated in verses 20 and 21, there said to be sung by Miriam and other Israelite women. The Song of the Sea was sung by the Israelites after their crossing the Red Sea in safety and celebrates their freedom after generations of slavery and oppression by the Egyptians. The poem is included in Jewish prayer books (siddurim) and recited daily during Shaharit. The poem forms part of the sixteenth weekly Torah portion, parashat Beshalach. The Shabbat on which it is read is known as (Hebrew: שַׁבַּת שִׁירָה, romanized: Shabbat Shirah, lit. 'Shabbat of Song'. It is one of only two sections of the Torah scroll written in a layout different from simple columns. The other section is the Song of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy, in the 53rd weekly portion (parashat Ha'azinu). The poem also comprises the first hymn of the Eastern Orthodox canon, in which it is known as the Song of Moses. It is also used in the Catholic Church and other Christian liturgies the Easter Vigil, when the salvation history as believed by Christians is recounted. The Christian traditions follow Revelation 15:3 by calling it the "Song of Moses" (not to be confused with the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy).
Origin The Song of the Sea is noted for its archaic language, written in a form of Hebrew much older than that of the rest of Exodus. Some scholars consider it the oldest surviving text describing the Exodus, dating to the pre-monarchic period. An alternative view is that it was deliberately written in an archaic style, a known literary device. As such, proposed dates for its composition range from the 13th to the 5th century BCE. A study by Joshua Berman found that the Exodus sea account is an appropriation of the Poem of Pentaur on the Battle of Kadesh of Ramesses II based on a close textual analysis of both works. Berman asserts that the appropriation could have deliberate satirical intent, as part of an ideological battle with Ramesses II. Berman notes that the Kadesh illustrations also include an appearance of an Ark of the Covenant and Tabernacle, which are an Egyptian mobile altar, which traditionally were also golden boxes with winged Isis and Nephthys facing each other and a space for a god's cartouche to be seated between them.
Page layout
The Ashkar-Gilson Manuscript is a fragment of a 7th century Torah scroll that contains the Song of the Sea. Some scholars have argued that the "brickwork" pattern of the Ashkar-Gilson version shows that the Masoretes accurately copied earlier manuscripts. This pattern was not used in the Dead Sea Scrolls. A similar pattern is used in modern Torah scrolls, and the Ashkenazi and Sepharadi Torah scrolls differ from the Yemenite scrolls in the arrangement of the very last line.
Text
Ketuba of the Seventh Day of Pesach The Ketubá del Seten Diya de Pesah (also called 'The Ketubah of the Seventh Day of Passover' כתובה ליום השביעי של פסח) is a liturgical poem in Ladino, describing Pharaoh's defeat in the Sea of Reeds. Most Jewish communities sing this poem on 21 Nisan, the seventh day of Passover. According to Jewish tradition, this is the day on which Pharaoh's army was drowned in the Sea of Reeds, and the Israelite people sang the Song of the Sea in gratitude for this victory. Presumably, this text is called a ketuba 'marriage contract' because the relationship between God and the Jewish people is traditionally described as a marriage, and the splitting of the sea is considered to be an important event leading to that marriage, which ultimately took place 42 days later, at Mount Sinai. A tune for the Ladino poem along with the entire text itself can be found in Isaac Levy's Anthology of Sepharadic Hazzanut.
Musical settings
In Hebrew Cantillation, the Song is given a unique, festive tune, not bound to the ordinary trope marks. The following settings exist for the Song of the Sea:
Cantique de Moïse (French) Étienne Moulinié. Canticum Moysis (Latin) Fernando de las Infantas. Cantemus Domino Ascanio Trombetti. Part Three of Handel's 1739 oratorio Israel in Egypt, entitled Moses' Song. Mirjams Siegesgesang (Miriam's Song of Triumph), Op. 136, D. 942 by Franz Schubert. Some of the song features in the 1998 animated film The Prince of Egypt. The text consists of a few selected lines and paraphrases from the Hebrew text inserted in the bridge of the song "When You Believe" (before the parting and in the reprise). Portions of the song are paraphrased in both of the melodic and textual variations of the popular African-American gospel music song, "O Mary Don't You Weep".
References
External links A collection of articles on the Song of the Sea from a Jewish perspective. at Chabad.org Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1b-18) Reconstructed
